Technical Document #1005

Subject: Setting up a multiple user floating license configuration

Product: All Digital Formation Products

Last Updated: February 22, 1999

Overview

This document describes how to configure a multiple user floating license on a network. The technique involves setting up a single server machine with a full product, and a floating license for the number of copies purchased. For each client machine you wish to have access to the software, a special client side installation is required. By setting up this configuration, an organization need purchase only the number of licenses required simultaneously for the server. The client installation may be installed as many times as needed without any additional license purchases.

Details

The technique requires having the full installation diskettes for the product to be installed on the server. These are the same installation diskettes as for single user purchases. The floating license capabilities are licensed by Digital Formation at the time of Authorization. You will also need to obtain the special client installation for the product from your reseller or Digital Formation. This is a small installation which must be used on each client. The minimal local software is required to manage local user preferences and to locate the server installation.

Server Installation:

Begin by making a full installation on the server machine. The location of the installation should be to a drive that is available to all the client machines which will require access. The drive must be accessible via a mapped drive letter, and the users must have READ/WRITE/EXECUTE permission for the main directory (i.e. X:\Apps\product\Bin). Once the installation is complete, you will need to authorize the software. The procedure will vary depending on the operating system running on the server. The Network.htm file, located in the X:\Apps\product\Bin\Network directory, will guide you on setting up the server. You may then contact Digital Formation to authorize the server for the floating licenses.

Client Installation:

Using the client installation diskette, install the software on the client. A standard product installation directory is required for the software. Only very minimal software will be installed to this location. During the installation, you will also be prompted for the location of the network server installation. This should refer to the location specified in the first step (i.e. X:\Apps\product\Bin). The installation will check to see if it can locate the server installation. If it cannot find the application, you will be notified. You may continue if you wish, but it is best to verify that the server location is valid. Once the installation is complete, a group with the icons to load the software from the client machine will be created.

Other setup considerations:

By default, the local installation will refer to the server directory structure for loading files, etc.
The local setup will have all the configuration files for the client. In this manner, changes made to the local setup will affect that machine only. There is no way to override this at this time.

Conclusions

The multiple user configuration has several advantages:

An organization need only purchase the number of copies of the software it feels it needs simultaneously, while still making the software available to a larger group of people.
As newer software releases are made available, the organization will only have to upgrade the server machine, and the new software will automatically be available for all users.

Please note that the cost of a server edition with multiple client editions may be different than the equivalent number of stand-alone purchases. Contact Digital Formation for current pricing.